Lift Your Head, Princess. If Not, the Crown Falls.

You would think my 1st Gilian Flynn novel would be Gone Girl..But no, I decided to read Dark Places 1st. Dark Places is one of those books that keeps you guessing about what happened to the characters til the very end. Like, seriously, some of the stuff that actually happened to the Day family on that fateful night, I didnt see coming at all.

It skips around from present day (under Libby's point of view) to that day 20ish years ago (under her brother's point of view). There is a lot going on but it's not hard to follow the story by any means. I really like the way Gillian Flynn writes. And the characters are very well developed. I especially liked Libby and I kept invisioning Christina Ricci in her character if a movie was ever made, sadly, Charlize Theron will be playing Libby in the movie..siigh..but that is neither here or now there since this is a book review :) 

I reccomend reading Dark Places, even if you've read other Gillian Flynn books and not enjoyed them bc this is one of those books that you just can't put down and you keep rooting for Libby and you're not sure what actually happened the nite her entire family was murdered, yet when you find out, you're just sitting there thinkin about how horrible it all was and how a 7yr old Libby (at the time) had to suffer thru life and dealing with all of this death and betrayal (from her brother) that it was none of it fair.

Augustus Waters, The Fault in Our Stars

I never let myself fall in love with male characters in literature. I actually went into TFiOS thinking I'd fall in love with Hazel..and Hazel was alright, dont get me wrong, but I ended up falling in love with Augustus (pretty much as Hazel was falling in love with him or as he was falling in love with her, Idk).

Hazel and Augustus meet at a cancer support group. Hazel is being made to go there by her parents and while Augustus is remission from his own cancer, he's really only there for his friend Isaac who is having a lot of trouble with his cancer. Augustus goes out of his way to meet Hazel and he makes sure they become friends but Hazel just doesnt want to be a burden on him.

It honestly seems like thru out the book that Hazel is going to die, like you keep preparing yourself for her to die but then, out of no where, Augustus ends up dying. But not b4 he takes Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author of her favorite book and makes her fall in love with him. It's a funny story and a very sad story and it's definitley worth a read. People say this book is too over-hyped (and might be, Idk) but imo, that doesnt matter bc at the heart of this book is a lovely story and I believe most anybody who reads it will come to adore Augustus Waters just as I did.

My favorie quote from this book is from Augustus and is towards the end of the book: "MY THOUGHTS ARE LIKE STARS I CANT FATHOM INTO CONSTELLATIONS"..It literally speaks volumes to me bc that is how I have felt while dealing with my anxiety and depression for all of these yrs..I have thoughts that I want to get out, but they're just too jumbled up in my brain to form them properly.

This is my favorite book hand down. Every time someone says they need a new book to read, I insist they read this one. It's such a lovely book and makes you think of heaven in a different way.

In the 70s, 14yr old Susie Salmon is murdered by a neighbor on her way home from school. At first, her family doesnt want to believe that Susie is dead. They hold out hope for a very long time that she'll be found alive, but the evidence continues to mount that leads the family to accept that Susie isnt coming home.

This book made me cry..a couple times. 

It's told from Susie's point of view and while she's in what most ppl would probaby say is limbo altho I think it's more like Susie's on special heaven. It's not what we'd think of as how the after-life should be -- Susie has fun in her heaven and gets to c ppl and do things she loves and also she can watch her famiy and believe or not, her killer, too. It's an interesting read.